SteelStar lay back on a rooftop, staring at the clouds in his organic form. Things seemed to have quieted down in the city, but that was a relief by now. It had been a long day, but he’d done some good. People were beginning to notice him too, and he was quickly gaining followers online. So far, SteelStar’s first day as a superhero was going great.
Then SteelStar got an alert on his smartwatch. Something was tearing up trees in the forest—some sort of red cyclone making its way towards Partition City. SteelStar took a deep breath. He had a feeling that this would be a big job.
Wasting no time, SteelStar transformed into metal, levitated off the roof, and flew away, speeding towards the area.
***
The Silent Wraith stood in the forest with binoculars, his bodysuit blending in with the environment to make him invisible. In the binoculars’ view, he could see a large, blocky federal building, sunlight gleaming off the windows. The stone sign at the driveway read, ‘E.H.O.D., Partition City.’ Given Morphic Man’s ties to the E.H.O.D. and Partition’s City’s proximity to Redwell, Silent figured he might find something important there.
Paramount didn’t know he was here—not that Silent had lied to him earlier. Silent fully intended to go to his lab later to inspect the samples from the crater site, this place was just on the way. As corrupt as they were, the E.H.O.D. was still an official government organization. Investigating it incurred no small risk, even for superheroes, so if Paramount didn’t know about this, it couldn’t hurt him.
Suddenly, Silent heard beeping, indicating a message. Tapping a button in his mask, his view switched to news footage. The news revealed images of the forest outside the crater site. In the distance, Silent could just make out red energy spinning over the treetops.
“Oh no,” he said.
***
Paramount flew forward with his fist pulled back, picking up speed as the wind roared around him. When he punched the giant bull’s head with all his might, a sound of thunder cracked, and the gigantic creature was knocked backward. The bull landed with a boom, shaking the ground as it finally lay still. Around that same plain, six other gigantic bulls lay on their sides, panting from exhaustion.
With that bull incapacitated, Paramount drifted downward until he reached the ground. He landed on his feet and stood there for a moment, resting his hands on his knees while taking a few deep breaths. That battle had taken a lot longer than it should have. He’d thrown everything he had at the bulls, from punches to blasts of kinetic energy from his forehead, but no matter how many times the mutants went down, they seemed to get right back up. It turned out that the bulls had instant regeneration in addition to their strength. In the end, Paramount’s only viable strategy was to tire them out. He was lucky they’d collapsed when they did, as Paramount was starting to feel tired himself.
A few minutes later, cargo helicopters from the E.H.O.D. arrived to take the bulls away. These helicopters were specially designed with massive tanks on their sides, each filled with sedatives. Once hooked up to the bull’s bloodstreams, the vehicles could carry the bulls to a reserve for giant mutants. Paramount helped by rolling the bulls onto giant tarps tied to ropes, and the helicopters’ crews took it from there.
After taking a few minutes to rest, Paramount found himself flying back to the Redwell City crater site. He’d been gone far longer than he’d intended, so Paramount flew as fast as he dared. As he was flying back, Paramount got an alert on his smartwatch. Realizing how much time had passed, he prayed silently that it wasn’t what he thought it was.
Unfortunately, it was exactly what he feared.
“No…no…no!” cried Paramount.
Knowing the stakes, the elder superhero considered his options. If he flew at top speed now, he’d be unable to communicate. As much as he wanted to get there as soon as possible, it would take time he likely didn’t have, even at top speed. His first priority was to see if there were any superheroes who could get there sooner.
Checking his smartwatch, he did see one superhero in the area.
***
SteelStar flew as fast as he could, the city going by in a blur beneath him. In the distance, he could see the forest just beyond city limits. He couldn’t see any red lights yet, but the alert was still ongoing.
Suddenly, SteelStar heard his smartwatch beeping, a request for a video call. The sender was listed as “Paramount.” SteelStar had to stare at it for a moment to make sure he was seeing it correctly. It couldn’t be the real Paramount, could it? Not unless the situation with the red cyclone was more serious than he thought.
SteelStar accepted the call, and his watch showed an image of Paramount himself, his hair whipping in the wind as he flew forward quickly. SteelStar, feeling like Andy again, suddenly felt overwhelmed.
“It’s you,” said SteelStar, a big smile breaking out on his metal face. “It’s really you. Sir, it’s…”
SteelStar stopped himself. He was about to say how much of an honor it was, but this wasn’t the right time.
SteelStar cleared his throat. “Sir, is this about the situation outside Partition City?”
“That’s right,” said Paramount, his voice strong and serious. “You’re the only available superhero who’s anywhere close. Your profile says you have metal transformation, some magnetic abilities, and electricity generation. Is that correct?”
“Yes sir,” said SteelStar.
“Can you do a nonlethal takedown with your electricity?”
“Yes, absolutely! Why do you ask?”
“Because the thing approaching your city is Spectramancer.”
SteelStar felt a chill go down his spine. “Spectramancer? What’s he doing?”
“His ability is powered by emotion,” said Paramount. “And right now, he’s stuck in a state of pure rage. If you can disable him with a nonlethal shock, it should snap him out of it.”
“Okay,” said SteelStar, nodding and taking a deep breath. “Okay. I can do that.”
“See if you can stop him,” said Paramount. “And if something goes wrong, report back to me, understood?”
“Yes sir,” said SteelStar.
Paramount regarded him thoughtfully. “SteelStar, right?”
“That’s me.”
“I’ve never heard of you before, and you sound young. How long have you been a superhero?”
SteelStar said sheepishly, “A few hours.”
A moment later, Paramount said, “Oh dear.”
***
SteelStar passed over the last of the city’s buildings, reaching the forest. Soon, he saw the red glow for himself, shining from trees in the distance and dangerously close to the edge of the city. Behind that red light lay a trail of destruction, with trees knocked over and fires everywhere. Now that he was over the forest, SteelStar could sense forest animals of every shape and size fleeing the cyclone as fast as they could. For a moment, SteelStar wondered how Spectramancer had gotten here so fast, as the original alert placed him near the crater site.
SteelStar got his answer quickly. He saw the red cyclone flying through the air, traveling in an arc over the trees as two blasts trailed behind it. Spectramancer then used two blasts to slow his descent, landing softly. It wouldn’t take long for Spectramancer to reach the city if he kept doing that. The scarlet tornado tore up any trees it came near, setting them on fire and blasting pieces of them away until they fell over, crashing to the forest floor.
“Morphic Man!” cried Spectramancer, preparing another leap. “Morphic Man!”
SteelStar furrowed his brow in confusion. Morphic Man? As the spinning aura blew away some more trees, SteelStar flew as close as he dared and hovered, raising his voice.
“Spectramancer!” he cried. “You need to stop!”
“Morphic Man!” cried Spectramancer, flying into the air.
“Why are you looking for Morphic Man?!” cried SteelStar.
“Morphic Man!”
The enraged man wasn’t listening, so SteelStar said, “I’m sorry about this.”
As Spectramancer landed, SteelStar threw out his hands to unleash a nonlethal takedown, small bolts of electricity crackling off his fingers. The lightning deflected off that spinning red aura, however, and Spectramancer turned to SteelStar angrily, his eyes glowing red. Spectramancer threw a red wave of his own, causing nearby trees to burst into flame. SteelStar covered his smartwatch with his metal hand as the red energy washed over his entire body, knocking him back a little but otherwise not harming him.
SteelStar looked down and shouted, “I don’t want to hurt you, but you need to stop this!”
“Stay out of my way!” cried Spectramancer.
Spectramancer raised his hand and unleashed a narrow, concentrated beam that glowed brighter than the wave. It struck SteelStar right in the chest, making him gasp in pain as he was blasted backward. SteelStar smashed through a few trees before bouncing off the forest floor and rolling to a stop. The trees he’d smashed through crashed to the ground as SteelStar grabbed his stomach and groaned.
He lay there for a moment, his chest in terrible pain. Lifting the shirt of his costume, SteelStar’s worst fears were confirmed as he saw a dent in his metal chest. Holding his other hand over it, he pulled with magnetism to straighten the metal. SteelStar groaned from an initial burst of pain, but once that passed, the pain faded a little as his chest was pulled back into place.
“Morphic Man!”
Hearing him scream like that, SteelStar knew he couldn’t just lie there, even if he desperately wanted to. Doing his best to ignore the lingering pain, SteelStar stood, pushing himself off the ground slowly. SteelStar took a moment to regain his bearings and then flew into the air again. He then saw Spectramancer making another blast-powered jump and followed him.
SteelStar brought up his smartwatch and contacted Paramount.
“Mr. Paramount…sir…uh…”
“Just Paramount is fine,” said Paramount. “What happened?”
“His power deflected my electricity,” said SteelStar.
“You’ll have to raise the voltage so enough can get through.”
“How much do I use?”
It took Paramount a moment to answer, “I don’t know. He’s only lost it like this once, and we haven’t measured his full output in this state. You’ll have to ramp it up by degrees.”
“He’s getting close to the city,” said SteelStar, panic edging into his voice. “What if it takes too long to find the right voltage? What if I use too much and kill him?”
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“Stay calm,” said Paramount. “You have to stay calm. I know this is a lot to deal with, but you must stop him. If it helps, I can promise you this. If Spectramancer was in his right mind, he’d rather be hurt by you than be allowed to hurt someone else. If it comes to it, do what you have to do.”
“Y… yes sir,” said SteelStar.
“I’m about to pick up speed,” said Paramount. “Once I break the sound barrier, communication will be impossible, but I’ll be there as soon as I can.”
“Okay,” said SteelStar as he ended the call. A moment later, he spoke again with more uncertainty. “Okay.”
SteelStar flew after Spectramancer just as the angry superhero landed. SteelStar shot more lightning, raising the voltage slightly. This time it penetrated the red cyclone, though not by much. Spectramancer rounded on him, his eyes glowing even brighter than before.
“You again?!”
Spectramancer’s spinning red aura suddenly grew, knocking down more trees as it did. SteelStar then flew to the side as Spectramancer threw more blasts at him, each humming with deadly power. SteelStar responded with another high-voltage blast that still didn’t penetrate the aura very far. He dodged and weaved as Spectramancer threw red blasts that sliced nearby trees, the forest floor shaking as the pieces landed.
SteelStar managed to shoot a lightning bolt big enough to penetrate a little further, but he didn’t feel like he was making any progress. Spectramancer was just unleashing too much energy, and the radius of that energy was getting bigger. If this kept going, SteelStar worried he wouldn’t have enough energy to stop him at all, let alone without killing him.
Getting desperate, SteelStar tried to dive straight at Spectramancer, dodging a few lasers and getting close. SteelStar figured that if he could touch Spectramancer’s skin, he could transmit the nonlethal shock directly. He aimed himself at an angle, hoping to fly with the cyclone rather than fight against it.
SteelStar dove into the aura, and it was like being slammed by an intense wind. He was nearly swept out of the cyclone completely, but the metal superhero managed to hold his position for a moment, struggling against the red current as Spectramancer glared at him. SteelStar reached out, his fingers inches away from Spectramancer’s face and crackling with electricity. Before he could transmit a shock, however, SteelStar lost hold of his position and was thrown violently out of the aura. SteelStar rolled across the ground, stopping only when his back hit the base of a tree.
SteelStar forced himself to stand, though he nearly fell a few times from dizziness, his entire body sore. SteelStar couldn’t remember ever feeling this sore in the past. He looked at the back of his hand, temporarily transforming his face back to his metal form. The reflection on his gauntlet revealed a few bruises on the side of his gray face where the aura had smashed against him. Lifting his costume and dismissing the metal there, SteelStar could see an ugly bruise on his chest where he’s been struck before. Seeing the state he was in, SteelStar suddenly realized just how powerful Spectramancer was.
He took deep breaths, his body trembling, until he closed his eyes and shook his head.
“Get it together, Andy,” he told himself. “You can’t let him hurt anyone. You can’t let him hurt anyone. You can’t let him hurt anyone!”
He was almost screaming by the third time he said it.
SteelStar turned around, restored his metal form, and flew off, looking for Spectramancer again. He wasn’t hard to find. The metal superhero just had to follow the trail of destroyed trees. SteelStar saw Spectramancer make another leap and land right next to a highway. The traffic was light this time of day, so cars were mostly spaced out. Even so, there were far too many cars on the road, and that road just so happened to lead to Partition City.
“No…no…no…no…no!” SteelStar shouted, diving down.
“Morphic Man!” cried Spectramancer, preparing another jump.
SteelStar threw as big a bolt of lightning as he could at a moment’s notice. Once again, it was deflected, and Spectramancer didn’t even seem to notice this time. Spectramancer made his jump, landing right on the road, and three cars either stopped or swerved out of the way to avoid the glowing scarlet tornado. In the confusion, the cars hit each other, with one of them flipping over.
Thinking quickly, SteelStar flew in, magnetized his hands to the flipping one, then flew to another car and touched it lightly to the first. With that car magnetized, he quickly flew to the third, magnetizing all the cars together so he could push against them and stop them all as gently as possible.
Once SteelStar stopped the cars, he set them down gently and released the magnetism. As the terrified people in those cars got out, vehicles behind them started to slow, causing a traffic jam as more and more cars were forced to stop. The people in the cars almost came up to thank SteelStar.
“Morphic Man!” Spectramancer cried again.
At the sound of his voice, the people ran in the other direction, and SteelStar couldn’t blame them. SteelStar then and turned flew after the cyclone again. By now, Spectramancer was getting close to the cars still heading into the city. The cars furthest to the back were speeding up to escape the destruction, but Spectramancer would catch up before too long. As Spectramancer prepared to make another blast-powered leap, SteelStar realized that he could see the first few buildings in the distance.
SteelStar took a moment to charge and shoot his biggest lightning bolt yet. It was deflected by the cyclone but at least got Spectramancer’s attention as SteelStar flew towards the forest. SteelStar dodged a few blasts and threw a few of his own, hoping Spectramancer would follow him into the woods. Each of SteelStar’s lightning bolts was deflected by the glowing cyclone, though, and the farther away SteelStar got, the less interest Spectramancer seemed to have in him.
Finally, Spectramancer turned back towards the city and made another blast-powered jump.
“Oh, come on!” Shouted SteelStar, frustrated.
As he flew back, SteelStar could see how the red cyclone compared to the buildings up ahead. Spectramancer’s aura was bigger than ever, and the moment he stepped foot in Partition City, he’d cause massive damage. Seeing this, SteelStar realized he couldn’t afford to hold back for much longer.
Gritting his teeth in frustration, SteelStar tapped into his inner reserve. Electricity danced over SteelStar’s metal body as he began to glow white, channeling his full output. Even in this state, SteelStar tried to measure what he unleashed carefully. He still wanted to knock Spectramancer out, not kill him. SteelStar pulled back his hands before throwing them forward, unleashing as much electricity as he dared. The massive beam of lightning drilled into Spectramancer’s spinning aura. It got halfway to Spectramancer before it was swept away, blasting harmlessly to the side.
When the electricity cleared, Spectramancer turned back and unleashed a beam that caught SteelStar’s belly, blasting him backward. SteelStar, his eyes wide and teeth clenched from the pain, flew through a few trees, knocking them down before he landed, rolling to the ground as trees crashed in front of him.
SteelStar lay there for a moment, groaning from pain as his electricity faded. He reached up to pull the dent out of his belly with magnetism, painfully aware of how little time he had. Yet again, SteelStar had to force himself to get up and fly after Spectramancer.
Spectramancer landed, leaving holes in the asphalt where the beams slowing him struck. The red vortex around him was now gigantic, and as he blasted himself up once more, it brought him just a little bit closer to Partition City. By now, the cars fleeing had caught up to those unaware of the situation and were forced to slow down. Though the rear cars honked frantically, the cars ahead didn’t speed up until it was too late. When Spectramancer came down, his aura went right over the car furthest to the back, a black sedan.
“No!” cried SteelStar, reaching his hand out.
SteelStar tried to repel the car away from Spectramancer with magnetism, but the vehicle didn’t get far before the aura enveloped it. The car’s engine exploded as the vehicle was thrown to the side. It spun through the air and landed upside down between the roads, fire spilling through the windows. SteelStar made a futile effort to sense an electromagnetic signature within the car, even though he knew he wouldn’t find one. He hovered in the air for a moment, looking at the scene in horror.
“Morphic Man!” cried Spectramancer. “I know you’re in there! Show yourself!”
For a moment that seemed to stretch an eternity, SteelStar’s gaze remained locked on the destroyed car as he hovered there. The next moment, his gaze turned to Spectramancer. The aura around Spectramancer was now so big that if he stood between two buildings, both would be torn to shreds. The potential destruction was beyond SteelStar’s ability to comprehend.
At this point, SteelStar had only one attack left, and he really didn’t want to use it.
SteelStar put his left hand on his belt and magnetically pulled a switch that released a bullet into that hand. Slotting the bullet into the groove atop his right gauntlet, he magnetized it there to use it at a moment’s notice before he sped towards the enraged superhero.
SteelStar flew up and launched a lightning bolt in front of Spectramancer, blasting the road and getting his attention before the enraged man could make another jump. Spectramancer screamed and started throwing blasts at the other superhero. As SteelStar dodged, he aimed the bullet atop his wrist, using his left hand to keep the aiming arm steady. He stuffed as much electromagnetic energy as he could into the bullet, making it glow white as electricity sparked off it. SteelStar dodged left, right, up, and down, all the while keeping the bullet trained on Spectramancer, his wrist shaking slightly.
For a moment, SteelStar considered just grazing Spectramancer with the bullet. Maybe enough electricity would jump over to stop him without harming him. However, as SteelStar checked his inner reserve, he realized he only had enough power for one more big attack. He’d used too much energy earlier, and if it didn’t work, SteelStar would lose his last chance to stop Spectramancer. Besides, SteelStar didn’t trust his aim enough to do such a thing accurately.
And so SteelStar aimed the electrified bullet just slightly off center, counting on the spinning red energy to alter its path and strike Spectramancer head-on. The elder superhero, his face contorted with rage, kept throwing red blasts at SteelStar, who dodged the best he could. As SteelStar aimed the bullet, flying fast, a mercury tear formed under his metal eye, turning to saltwater as it was flung from SteelStar’s face.
“I’m sorry,” SteelStar whispered. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”
SteelStar dodged a particularly wide beam and then unleashed the magcannon. The supercharged bullet flew through the air, striking the red cyclone violently. It practically drilled through the energy, with the aura shifting its path to hit Spectramancer in the torso. However, despite the bullet’s massive energy, the aura tore away at the electrified bullet, shaving metal off it from the side and making it smaller. By the time it reached Spectramancer, it was almost the size of a needle, and it barely struck the man’s chest in time. The electrified metal pierced his skin, instantly cauterizing the wound and sending electricity running up and down Spectramancer’s body.
The needle passed through, vaporizing as it came out the other side of him. Spectramancer stood there, convulsing from the electricity for a few moments. The red vortex faded away from his body, disappearing completely, and finally the lightning ran out. Spectramancer stood there, his eyes wide and his mouth open.
“W…what?” asked Spectramancer as he began to fall backward.
SteelStar, fearing for the man’s life, flew over and caught his costume on the chest, stopping him from hitting the asphalt. He set Spectramancer down gently, then reached under him to pick him up. SteelStar intended to get him to a hospital, but the moment he pulled up, Spectramancer cried out in pain, suddenly coughing as a few drops of blood escaped the corner of his mouth. SteelStar, his eyes wide with distress, had to put him down. Clearly, it wasn’t safe to move him.
SteelStar took a few deep breaths, trying to figure out what he should do next. He thought of calling for an ambulance, but when SteelStar checked his smartwatch, he saw that it had melted and fused to his metal wrist. He scraped the useless watch off his wrist with his other metal hand and then frantically thought about his next move. It occurred to him that plenty of people had seen what happened. Surely someone had called 911 or at least put out an alert on Dangerwatch. SteelStar flew up, feeling unsteady as he was nearly out of energy. Up in the air, he watched the city closely and searched for the red lights of emergency vehicles. Sadly, he couldn’t see any.
He flew back down to check on Spectramancer, transforming out of his metal form to stand over the other hero nervously. He wracked his brain for what he could do, but nothing came to him, and just he looked at the fallen superhero helplessly. Spectramancer, still groaning in pain as he lay on the ground, looked up at this strange gray-skinned, white-haired, and blue-eyed superhero in confusion.
“What?” said Spectramancer, coughing. “What happened?”
“You…um…” SteelStar stammered, his voice quivering. “Well, you see, Mr. Spectramancer, sir... uh…”
Spectramancer closed his eyes. Now that he’d snapped out of his rage, he could sense the emotions around him, and the young man before him was feeling compassion, distress, and a small amount of guilt. When Spectramancer remembered his conversation with Morphic Man, it wasn’t hard to figure out what happened.
“I went on a rampage,” said Spectramancer. “And you had to stop me, didn’t you?”
“Ye... yes sir,” said SteelStar.
Spectramancer coughed, and to SteelStar’s horror, a few more drops of blood escaped from the corner of his mouth.
“Did...” said Spectramancer between coughs. “Did I hurt anyone?”
SteelStar didn’t answer but almost backed away, not knowing whether to tell him or not. He didn’t have to, however. Spectramancer could sense SteelStar’s distress spiking. Of course, if Spectramancer didn’t have that power, he still would have been able to tell. The distress was written all over SteelStar’s face.
“I did,” said Spectramancer, closing his eyes in shame as tears ran down his face.
SteelStar hesitated, not knowing what to do. Finally, Spectramancer opened his eyes.
“What’s your name?” asked Spectramancer.
“I… I’m SteelStar. I’m new.”
“SteelStar,” said Spectramancer. “Thank you. I’m… I’m sorry. I’m so sorry for all of this. I…” he coughed. “I want you to know you did the right thing. Whatever else happens, you did the right thing. If you see...” He coughed a few more times. “If you see Paramount, tell him I’m sorry. And if you see my daughter, Passion, please tell her I’m sorry I didn’t listen to her, and that I love... I love… I…”
Spectramancer’s eyes glazed over, and suddenly the man went still. SteelStar even felt the energy of the other man’s nervous system fade away. On some level, SteelStar knew what that meant, but poor Andy couldn’t bring himself to accept it.
“Spectramancer?” he asked. “Spectramancer? Spectramancer?!”
SteelStar backed away in horror. He wracked his brain, thinking that there had to be something he could do. Could he restart his heart? No, electricity caused this. It could just make things worse if he used it now. He began hyperventilating, feeling more helpless than he’d ever felt in his life.
Eventually, SteelStar was reduced to just standing there, staring in shock at Spectramancer’s body. He stayed that way for a long time, completely uncertain of what he should do next. He wasn’t sure how much time passed exactly, but SteelStar eventually sensed an electromagnetic signature in the sky. Looking up, SteelStar saw a figure flying towards him—a figure in blue and white. Soon, SteelStar recognized him as Paramount.
Paramount landed beside Spectramancer, his mouth open in shock. He stood there for a few moments, just feeling the weight of what he was seeing, before turning to the other superhero in the area. SteelStar stood there, trembling in fear.
“I…” SteelStar stammered. “I didn’t… I mean, I tried… I had to… I… I…”
Tears ran down SteelStar’s face. Seeing that the young man was in distress, Paramount put his hands up nonthreateningly.
“It’s alright, son,” he said, keeping his voice soothing and calm. “It’s alright. Just take a deep breath and tell me what happened.”
SteelStar took a few deep breaths and tried to calm down. As Paramount waited patiently, the Silent Wraith sat on his motorcycle at the edge of the forest, watching the scene unfold before bowing his head in sadness.